ARCHIE reaches back to the future for April’s #655

For those not in the know, Cosmo had his own Archie comic back in the late ’50s and after being on the fringes of Archie’s modern comics, he’s back in the interstellar spotlight.

“I always like adventure stories, sci-fi, and humor stories and Cosmo features all three!” artist Fernando Ruiz told 13th Dimension. “Cosmo’s been a favorite of mine since his stories turned up in the Archie digests I read as a kid. Ever since I first started drawing for Archie, I hoped for the opportunity to draw him. Impatiently, I would sneak Cosmo into a lot of the Archie stories I drew in the form of a Cosmo cup, a Cosmo popsicle, or even a stuffed Cosmo doll. Now I get to draw him in a story where he really appears! It’s a dream come true!”

Scripter Tom DeFalco added, “Aside from being a terrific cartoonist, Fernando truly understands visual story-telling. His panels are clear and dynamic. Whether it is Archie’s sense of jeopardy in The Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. or Archie/Thor’s despair at being exiled from Allgood, Fernando creates the illusion that his characters are real people and makes us feel their pathos. Like me, Fernando is a big fan of Cosmo the Merry Martian and I can’t wait to see his rendition of the Good Guys Of The Galaxy. Comic book fans of a certain soon-to-be major movie franchise won’t want to miss Archie #655.”

Hmmm, I wonder what movie he’s referring to.

Anyway, here’s the official, forthcoming solicitation copy from the fine folks in Riverdale, along with a pretty awesome variant cover:

An unexpected day off from school turns into the adventure of a lifetime! When a flying saucer crash-lands in Riverdale, Archie and Jughead come face-to-face with the one and only Cosmo the Merry Martian! His now-damaged space ship is threatening to make him late for a very important meeting at the Diner at the Center of the Universe—and without Cosmo there, the fate of the entire galaxy could be at risk! Archie is prepared to save the day, and you can bet that if a diner’s involved, Jughead’s on board! Get ready for intergalactic adventure and classic Archie Comics characters galore in an out-of-this-world story by comics great Tom DeFalco!